College & Workforce Readiness

Achieve Launches New College- and Career-Ready Initiative

By Caralee J. Adams — September 08, 2011 1 min read
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Supporting the growing movement to promote college- and career-readiness, the nonprofit organization Achieve announced yesterday a new initiative to provide online resources and partnerships with states to advocate high academic expectations and preparation for all students.

The Future Ready Project features a new website that will serve as an advocacy resource center. It is geared for education reform leaders, state policymakers, and parents looking to build coalitions of support.

It provides free information, including fact sheets and research to help make the case for advancing the college- and career-readiness agenda. One section offers ideas for how to reach out to involve students, leverage social media, and work with the press. The website also has links to organizations, such as Complete College America, that provide state-specific materials to enhance advocacy efforts.

The second half of the Future Ready project is a push to partner with states to develop a comprehensive communication and outreach strategy around the college- and career-ready movement. To craft these steps and goals, Achieve hopes to work with top state school officers, commissioners of higher education, politicians, and nonprofit reform advocates.

The first four states to sign on to work on the project are Ohio, Florida, Massachusetts, and Indiana.

“If our country is going to remain competitive in the global economy of the 21st century, college and career readiness must be the bedrock of all education reform initiatives,” said Michael Cohen, president of Achieve, in a press release.

The Washington-based, independent organization has been working on education reform issues since 1996, when it was created by the nation’s governors and business leaders.

A version of this news article first appeared in the College Bound blog.